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This paper aims to reduce waste management and generate wealth by investigating the novelty of combining chicken feather fiber and bamboo particles to produce hybrid biocomposites. This is part of responsible production and sustainability techniques for sustainable development goals. This study aims to broaden animal and plant fiber utilization in the sustainable production of epoxy resins for engineering applications.

This research used two reinforcing materials [chicken feather fiber (CFF) and bamboo particles (BP)] to reinforce epoxy resin. The BPs were kept constant at 6 Wt.%, while the CFF was varied within 3–15 Wt.% in the composites to make CFF-BP polymer-reinforced composite (CFF-BP PRC). The mechanical experiment showed a 21% reduction in densities, making the CFF-BP PRC an excellent choice for lightweight applications.

It was discovered that fabricated composites with 10 mm CFF length had improved properties compared with the 15 mm CFF length and pristine samples, which confirmed that short fibers are better at enhancing randomly dispersed fibers in the epoxy matrix. However, the ballistic properties of both samples matched. There is a 40% increase in tensile strength and a 54% increase in flexural strength of the CFF-BP PRC compared to the pristine sample.

According to the literature review, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a novel study of chicken fiber and bamboo particles in reinforcing epoxy composite.

Climate change is an undeniable reality that threatens people’s livelihoods. Flooding and saltwater intrusion, along with the rising sea levels, are affecting agricultural and aquaculture livelihoods in Myanmar’s coastal areas. Although climate change adaptation is gaining popularity as a resilience strategy to cope with the negative effects of climate change, both agriculture- and aquaculture-farmers are more often deterred from implementing climate change adaptation strategies due to practical availability and socioeconomic barriers to adaptation. This study aims to evaluate the barriers and factors that influence farm household’ choice of climate change adaptation measures.

This study was conducted with 599 farm households (484 rice-farmers and 115 fish farmers) based in the coastal areas of Myanmar during 2021–2022 to explore the farmer’s choice of climate change adaptation measures and the determining factors. The multinomial logit regression (MLR) model was used to examine the factors influencing the farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies.

The study found out that farm households use a variety of adaptation methods at the farm level, with building embankment strategy (23.4%) in agriculture and net-fencing measure (33.9%) in fish farming being the most popular adaptation strategies. Farmers’ decisions to adopt climate change adaptation strategies are influenced by factors such as distance to market, education level of the household head, remittance income and the availability of early warning information, among others. The study also discovered that COVID-19 has had an impact on the employment opportunities of household members and the income from farming as well had a consequential effect on the adoption of climate change adaptation measures. Furthermore, lack of credit (42.4%), labor shortage (52.8%), pest and disease infestation (58.9%), high input costs (81%) and lower agricultural product prices (73%) were identified as major barriers to the adoption of climate change adaptation measures by both agriculture and aquaculture farm households.

This study demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic and farm-level barriers are the major factors influencing farm households’ choice of climate change adaptation measures, and that removing practical farm-level barriers and encouraging the adoption of adaptation techniques as potential COVID-19 recovery actions are required. This study also highlighted that the adaptive capacity of agriculture and aquaculture farm households should be strengthened through formal and informal training programs, awareness raising, the exchange of early warning information and the development of proper credit scheme programs.

While the causes and effects of begging are well known, solutions on how to eradicate begging are still elusive in many parts of the developing world. The purpose of this study is to examine the different ways through which community leaders at the local level can contribute to the eradication of begging in one of Ghana’s most densely populated suburbs in the city of Accra.

This study was undertaken using the qualitative approach, and primary data was collected through interviews, participants observation and focus group discussions with beggars, community leaders and officials of non-governmental organisations at Nima, a suburb of Accra.

Begging in the suburb of Nima is increasingly becoming a business venture. It is no more an activity that is the preserve of only the weak, the poor, the elderly, the physically challenged, the needy and the marginalised in society. This paper argues that the eradication of begging requires multiple approaches and that community-based leaders must play a central role. This paper identified the provision of alternative sources of livelihood, the naming, shaming and condemnation of unjustified begging in the community, strict boarder control, returning foreign beggars to their home countries, the formulation and enforcement of community anti-begging by-laws and regular sensitisation programs on begging as crucial in reducing or eliminating begging.

While focusing on one Muslim-dominated suburb in Accra ensures a detailed discussion of strategies of eliminating begging from a cultural and religious perspective, the findings of this study may not be applicable to non-Islamic settings and communities where cultural or religious leadership structures do not exist.

This study has demonstrated that the eradication of begging in society cannot have one-size-fit all solution. This paper shows that in societies where cultural and religious leadership structures exist, they must play important roles in the design and implementation of strategies that seek to reduce or eliminate religious begging in society. This implies that formal government agencies and their associated laws alone will not be enough to eradicate or reduce begging under such contexts.

Measures to eradicate begging have often ignored the role of community leaders. This paper contributes to our understanding on this by specifically examining the phenomenon of begging at the micro level and exploring the different ways community leaders can contribute to the eradication of begging in society.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, quality of life and the labour market outcome across North and Southern Nigeria.

Data was obtained from staff laid off in selected tertiary institutions in North East and South West Nigeria using a self-administered questionnaire with a total sample size of 185. Findings are shown using the heteroscedastic linear regression and descriptive statistics.

The results showed a significant negative effect of unemployment during the pandemic on mental health and quality of life. Less than half of those laid off are reabsorbed into the labour market with the majority in the South than the Northern region and most are in self-employment.

The coronavirus pandemic negatively affected the human race, with a huge socio-economic impact linked to health and well-being. This reality calls for attention to the role it played on mental health and the quality of life as well as how it has influenced the labour market. Labour empowerment during a pandemic is key to cushion the effect of pandemics on health and the labour market. This can be in the form of skill empowerment and increased access to funds for business start-ups to enable self-employment that typifies the labour market after a pandemic. This in turn will reduce mental health challenges and low quality of life associated with pandemics.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first in the literature that provides empirical evidence of the effect of unemployment during the pandemic on well-being captured using mental health and the quality of life in Nigeria. Findings on labour market outcomes due to the pandemic and across regions in Nigeria are also scarce in the literature.

The reason for concern is the rapid decline in loans to small enterprises which is critical to their performance, compared to large businesses following the periods of banking reformations in Nigeria. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of risk perception on bank lending behaviour to small enterprises. It also investigates the impact of government intervention, consolidation and recapitalization on the relationship between risk perception and bank lending behaviour to small enterprise.

This study empirically analysed (ordinary least square) secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletins, Annual Statement of Accounts covering the period 1992–2020.

The results show that the absence of government interventions and the presence of banking reformations have statistically negative significant effect on bank lending to small enterprises. The findings challenge the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending because of small enterprise’s inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study found theoretical support for the variation of bank behaviour in lending to small enterprises depending on the status of wealth of the financial system.

A key lesson from this study for government concerned about promoting performance of the small enterprise sector is that regulating and enforcing lending requirements on access to debt financing of the sector is necessary if constraints in access debt finance is to be eliminated. Second, while strategies such as bank consolidation, recapitalization may help strengthen and make financially robust the banking system; it places the banks in a gain position where losses looms to them than gain.

This study challenges the argument that generally assumes risk aversion of banks towards small enterprise lending as a result of inability to prove their credit worthiness and consequently constraining access to finance to the sector. Instead, the results and analysis from this study reveal a variation in lending to small enterprises and suggests that the position of the bank in relation to a reference point influences how risk is perceived by the bank and thus impacts on their risk decision-making behaviour.

Large-scale industrialization, growth and development have come at the cost of severe environmental degradation, primarily measured in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. Apart from the several measures taken to reduce enviornmental degradation, provision of private capital is a necessity apart from the public capital. There is a debate on impact of carbon dioxide emissions with increase in affluence, technology, population and renewable energy. The purpose of the study is to look into the role of private equity investment on renewable energy and technological patents.

The study extends the use of stochastic impact by regression on population, affluence and technology model to include another factor for investments and capital, i.e. private equity along with renewable energy, population, technology and GDP growth on carbon emissions for the BRICS countries. The time period for the study is from 2002 to 2021, and the relationship between the variables has been tested using pooled mean group/autoregressive distributed lag, fully modified ordinary least squares and panel quantile regression.

First, the results depict a log-run relationship between the variables across the panel using cointegration. Private equity investments do not have a significant impact on carbon emissions. The study proposes important policy implications. There are two schools of thought on the impact of private equity on carbon emissions. For example, inherently private equity investments come with higher stakes and a shorter holding period because of which their primary focus remains on having higher returns instead of responsible investing. However, as private equity adds up to capital, which leads to an increase in productivity and eventually higher economic growth, this could affect carbon emissions. This study supports the first thought. Additionally, renewable energy also affects carbon emissions positively. The policymakers should look into the role and intent of the private equity investors in green investments and invest in technologies and patents that can lead to energy consumption.

The paper is the first of its kind, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to look into the impact of private equity on renewable energy and technological patents.

Rebuilding communities in economically struggling places might mean taking steps to combat poverty and promote economic growth. This can entail boosting employment prospects, promoting small-town enterprises, and enhancing access to health care and education. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant and all-encompassing influence on economy around the world. In order to craft a convincing case for the critical role that microfinance plays in promoting the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and, as a result, helping to rebuild communities and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the author has used a thorough literature-based methodology in this chapter. This is an opinion-based chapter. In order to discover recurring themes and patterns connected to microfinance, SME development, and SDGs, the author has rigorously analyzed and integrated the data and insights offered in various sources. The presented thoughts and policy suggestions are built upon the findings of this literature research.

The volatility of exchange rate has generally been sighted as a primary cause for various shocks and instability in international trade of Ghana as witnessed over the years and most especially in recent times. Hence, owing to the increasing trade levels between Ghana and Ghana's global trading partners, the study aims to investigate if the trade–exchange rate volatility nexus in Ghana supports the positive, negative or ambiguous hypotheses?

The study investigates the effects of Ghana's exchange rate volatility on international trade by designing import and export equations to estimate both short- and long-run specifications of the effect and employing the multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) with Baba, Engle, Kraft and Kroner (BEKK) specification developed by Engle and Kroner (1995) as a further check for the robustness of the findings. Monthly data between 1993 and 2017 on the real effective exchange rates of Ghana's trade with 143 trading partners were taken as the series for modeling the volatility using GARCH andexponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedastic (EGARCH) models.

The empirical results show that the volatility of exchange rate negatively impact export performances in the Ghanian economy. On the other hand, there was no sufficient evidence to support the observed positive effect of exchange rate volatility on imports, as the effects were only significant at 10% level in the long run. Thus, it is concluded that the finding cannot confirm a relationship between volatility and import. Thus, the results present differences in the direction of the effect of exchange rate volatility on imports and exports in the context of the Ghanaian economy.

Considering the fragility of the Ghanaian economy and Ghana's macro-economic indicators, the study points at the crucial need for more integration of well-informed trade policies within the country's macro-economic policy framework to contain the impacts of exchange rate volatility on trade performances.

The study contributes to literature by scope and method. More specifically, empirical studies have failed or provided little evidence uniquely on the Ghanaian economy's reaction to exchange rate volatility on the country's imports and exports. Additionally, most of the existing empirical studies measure exchange rate volatility using the standard deviation of the moving averages of the logarithmic transformation of exchange rates. This method is criticized because the method is unsuccessful in capturing the effects of potential booms and bursts of the exchange rate. The authors' study circumvents for these highlighted pitfalls.

The study contributes to literature by scope and method. More specifically, empirical studies have failed or provided little evidence uniquely on the Ghanaian economy's reaction to exchange rate volatility on the country's imports and exports. Thus, the study chat a course for socio-economic dynamic of Ghanaian economy.

The study contributes to literature by its scope and method, as extant empirical studies have provided little evidence specifically on the Ghanaian economy's reaction to exchange rate volatility. Additionally, most of the existing empirical studies measure exchange rate volatility using the standard deviation of the moving averages of the logarithmic transformation of exchange rates. This method is criticized because of the method's inadequacies in capturing the effects of potential booms and bursts of the exchange rate. The study thereby essentially circumvents for these highlighted pitfalls.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the pandemic affects tenants’ response to their lease obligations. This paper commences with examining the adopted tenant selection criteria during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, this paper statistically tests if there is a relationship between selection criteria and response on whether the pandemic has effects or not. Then, this paper investigates the specific areas of impact on tenants’ ability to adequately keep to lease agreements in the Nigerian rental market. Finally, this paper proceeds to confirm if there is a relationship between selection criteria and the aspects of tenants’ deficiencies in rental obligations because of COVID-19.

Survey data, backed with interviews, is elicited from practicing estate surveyors and valuers and licensed property managers in Lagos, the largest property market in Nigeria and sub-Sahara Africa. Policy solutions and implications were solicited from personnel at the ministry of housing and senior professionals in the property sector. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis and computer-aided qualitative data analysis, Atlas.ti.

Tenant’s health status is now accorded a priority together with others. Numbers of tenants are challenged with keeping to the prompt-rent-payment rule. Other areas of slight breaches included livestock rearing, subletting, alteration and repair covenants. Except for tenant reputation and tenant family size, there was no significant relationship between tenant’s health status consideration and the COVID-19 effect on tenant non-compliance with lease obligation. Tenants’ non-compliance with tenancy obligations has a connection with the tenants’ affordability, reputation, ability to sign an undertaking and health conditions during the pandemic. This paper recommends rental housing policy review.

It is recommended that the rental policy should be reviewed to give room for rental allowance or palliatives, private rental market regulation, exploration of the national housing fund and, if possible, social housing adoption policy in Nigeria.

This paper draws policymakers’ attention to the need to prepare for the future safety net that caters to citizenry welfare in challenging times.